The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Contractor

  • Lagos-Ibadan bridge’s gridlock ends Nov ending, says contractor

    Lagos-Ibadan bridge’s gridlock ends Nov ending, says contractor

    TRAVELLERS and motorists plying the Lagos-Ibadan expressway must brace for more hours of harrowing gridlock at the Ogun State stretch of the long bridge as lasting solutions to the nightmare may not come soon.

    Contractor handling the rehabilitation,   Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, hinted yesterday that the five-kilometre bridge, where major work is being carried out, might not be completed earlier than November ending.

    Its Divisional Manager (West), Wolfgang Loesser, spoke yesterday while fielding questions from reporters during a news conference organised by Ogun State to inform Nigerians about steps being taken by Governor Ibikunle Amosun to ease the situation.

    Loesser, who led the team of Julius Berger’s construction firm to the meeting with the government, in Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office, noted that the ongoing work on the bridge was complex and required diligence.

    “First is the stage, where we are now, before we move to the other side coming from Lagos. So, that work will take at least until the end of November.

    “But I also want to point out that there are many bottlenecks on the road. For example, the Ogun River Base. So, we are likely to experience the same problem there, where we will have several stages of traffic management.

    “We can only do it if everybody is disciplined and care to drive safely within the construction area,” he said.

    Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure Lekan Adegbite assured road users that the government would create earth road by the sides to serve as alternative roads and thus, ease traffic often experienced on the bridge.

    Adegbite, who ascribed the cause of the gridlock in that area to drivers’ impatience and indiscipline, said the government might wield the big stick on erring motorists that drive against traffic.

    According to him, miscreants appeared to have taken advantage of the traffic build up to attack motorists and travelers and dispossessing them of valuables.

    The commissioner, however, assured that the government would deploy more law enforcement agents, and operatives of the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps (TRACE) to the area.

     

     

     

  • ‘Badeh asked me to claim N1.8b property’

    ‘Badeh asked me to claim N1.8b property’

    •Ex-Chief of Defence Staff, others wanted him to claim ownership of asset

    Crosecution witness in the trial of former Chief of Defence Staff Alex Badeh gave details yesterday on how he failed in his attempt to conceal the ownership of a shopping mall worth N1.8 billion he built for the ex-defence chief in Abuja.

    The witness, Mustapha Yerima, a building contractor and managing director of a property firm, Right Builders Technologies Limited, told a Federal High Court in Abuja that Badeh and some others asked him to claim ownership of the property to conceal its true ownership from investigators.

    Yerima, who testified as the fourth prosecution witness in the trial of Badeh and a firm, Iyalikam Nigeria Limited, said he failed in his effort to conceal the ownership of the property when operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) confronted him with actual documents relating to the true ownership of the property.

    Badeh is being tried on 10-count with Iyalikam for money laundering and diversion of public funds estimated at about N3.97 billion.

    Led in evidence by prosecution lawyer, Rotimi Jacobs, Yerima, who opened his testimony on Monday, concluded his evidence-in-chief yesterday.

    The witness had, on the previous day, gave evidence concerning how he was recruited by Badeh, through a former Director of Finance and Account of the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), retired Air Commodore Aliyu Yishau, to construct the shopping mall on Aminu Kanu Crescent, Wuse 2, Abuja.

    Yerima said: “We continued our work after the payment from the third parties until one fateful morning. One of my site supervisors called me that EFCC operatives were looking for me. So, immediately, I drove down to the site.

    “He asked me, if the property belonged to Dasuki. I told them I had neither seen Dasuki nor met him. So, I was asked to report at their office by 3pm. Before I got to their office, I called Air Commodore Yishau, to tell him what has happened.

    “So, he said since he had handed over the project to the original owner and that Alex (Jnr.) was the one coordinating, I should call him and explain to him. I then called him and told him that I wanted him to link me up with his father so that I could explain what was happening. But he told me his father was not around. But he said I should call Air Commodore Yishau back.

    “After I spoke with Alex Badeh Jnr., it took some time for him to get back. When he eventually got back to me, he said they had discussed. But that I should call back Air Commodore Yishau, who would then tell me what to tell EFCC operatives.

    “Yishau called me and told me that since my company was into property development, that I should claim it. He said so because I think he was scared.

    “It was at that point, this same Timothy Muje, a lawyer, called me that we should meet somewhere around Wuse 2. We met there and he handed over those same documents I gave them earlier.

    “He deliberately refused to give me the power of attorney, the deed of assignment, between Right Builders and this other company, whose name I cannot remember, because the whole idea was for me to claim the property as they agreed between them.

    “I want to believe it was the agreement between Yishau, Alex Badeh Jnr, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh and the lawyer, Timothy Muje, that I should claim the property.

    “What Barrister Timothy told me was that they had reached an agreement that I should please protect them. But when I got to EFCC, it was a different ball game because I was confronted with some chilling evidence.

    “I was confronted with so many documents such as copies of drawings, statement of accounts and so many other documents relating to that project, including e-mail correspondents.

    “At that point, I had no other choice than to tell EFCC exactly the way things were – just the way I narrated my testimony, everything that transpired.

    “The approximate cost of the shopping mall was about N1.8 billion inclusive of the cost of the land. Since the EFCC operatives visited the site, they told us to stay off, since it was under investigation,” Yerima said.

    The witness told the court that when Yishau, who was acting as the go-between in his relationship with Badeh, retired, Badeh’s son took over the role.

    Yerima said Badeh’s son – Alex Badeh (Jnr) – later authorised a third party, a company identified as Viteva, to make payment of  N108 million into Right Builder’s account as part of the payment for the construction of the mall.

    “The payment that came through the third party was as a result of the meeting between myself, Air Commodore Yishau and Alex Badeh Jnr.

    “Prior to this meeting, there was a meeting that held between me and Air Commodore Yishau where he introduced Barrister Timothy Muje to me as the lawyer to Air Chief Marshal Badeh and that since he (Yishau) was retiring, I should transfer all necessary documents to the lawyer in the person of Barrister Timothy Muje, who was representing Air Chief Marshal Badeh.

    “He (Yishau) came with a prepared Deed of Assignment and Power of Attorney, with my company’s name and one other company for the transferring of the title from Right Builders, which is my company, to the other company. He gave me copies to sign and I signed.

    “I remember in that meeting I also met one Barrister Umar, who also came for the transfer of similar documents. I signed those documents and handed over the remaining documents in my possession to Barrister Timothy Muje.

    “I mentioned earlier in my previous testimony, that the day the transaction was concluded, I only handed over the original Certificate of Occupancy to  Air Commodore Yishau.

    “This time around, I handed over the deed of assignment, the power of attorney between Ayodele Fayose and Tony to him. I also handed over to him, other documents, including the power of attorney between Cassagro and Right Builders.

    “He gave me the power of attorney and the deed of assignment which he (Barrister Timothy Muje) came with which were already prepared in the name of the company, I cannot remember the name, but which was between that company and Right Builders. I signed it and gave it back to Barrister Timothy and then I left.

    “The total money that I received from the third party was about N108 million. It was paid into my company’s account. Immediately I received an alert from Vetiva Nigeria Limited, I quickly called Alex Badeh (Jnr.) to confirm.

    “He confirmed to me that they (he and his father) gave instruction to Vetiva to make the payment on their behalf. There are two other companies that also made deposits into my company’s account, which Alex Jnr confirmed to me that they made those deposits on behalf of them.

    “Those two companies were Macden Communications Limited and Chimeize Puintes,” Yerima said as he ended his testimony.

    When asked to cross-examine the witness, defence lawyers, Akin Olujinmi (SAN) and Samuel Ologunorisa (SAN) asked for time to enable them study Yerima’s statements, which they said were served on them yesterday.

    Trial judge Justice Okon Abang adjourned to June 14 for Yerima’s cross-examination.

     

  • Court remands Lekki Gardens MD, Contractor in prison

    Court remands Lekki Gardens MD, Contractor in prison

    An Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate Court on Friday granted the request of the Lagos State Police Command seeking to keep the Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong in custody pending the conclusion of on-going investigation into collapse of a five-storey building under construction on Kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi area of the state which killed no fewer than 35 persons.

    The court also ordered one of the contractors handling the project, Odofin Taiwo Henry to be kept in police custody at Panti alongside Nyong for the next 30 days.

    Magistrate Folashade Botoku, who granted the remand order, held that same was in the interest of justice and public safety.

    34-year-old Nyong was apprehended on Thursday, while Odofin was arrested on Wednesday.

    The building had crumbled around 3am on Tuesday with several workers trapped in the rubble.

    The state government had sealed the building, which was originally designed to be a three-storey structure but in a brazen act of defiance and impunity, the owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens, were said to have criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident.

    Nyong and Odofin were brought to court at about 1pm in a black Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle with registration number (Abuja) KWL 682 CN.

    When the case was called, police prosecutor, Godwin Osuji informed Magistrate Botoku of an ex-parte application seeking to remand the defendants beyond the constitutionally prescribed period, saying the application was brought in the interest of justice, public safety, public order and morality.

    He said in view of the circumstances of the case, it was impossible for the police to conclude the investigation within two days, hence the need for the application.

    According to Osuji, as at Thursday, 24 bodies were recovered from the scene of the incident, while others were still being recovered.

    He added that some of the relatives of the victims were still making efforts to identify their dead bodies, while autopsy is yet to be conducted.

    He said: “In view of the circumstances of this matter, it will be impracticable for us to conclude investigation in two days as there are so many agencies involved and so we have come to court in order not to run foul of the law.”

    He, therefore, urged the court to grant the request to keep the defendants in custody of the Police Criminal Investigation Department pending conclusion of investigation.

    Responding, counsel to the defendants, Bode Olanipekun orally applied for the bail of his clients.

    Olanipekun, in the alternative, urged the court to order that the police should release his clients but that they should make themselves available to police when needed.

    However, Osuji, in response, said it was trite law that an application for bail could only be filed after the defendants must have been arraigned on a criminal charge.

    He said at the moment, the police was yet to file any charge against the defendants and as such the application for bail was not yet ripe.

    In her ruling, Magistrate Botoku ruled that under Section 264 (1) of the Lagos State Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2011, she was empowered to order the remand of a defendant as in the instant case, but that the major consideration is the justification of such application.

    She held that having gone through the facts of the case, it was in the interest of justice for the application to be granted, as there was merit in it.

    Magistrate Botoku therefore ordered the defendants to be kept at the Criminal Investigation Department Panti for 30 days at first instance, subject to variation upon further applications.

    The matter was consequently adjourned to April 12.

    An Ebute-Metta Chief Magistrate Court on Friday granted the request of the Lagos State Police Command seeking to keep the Managing Director of Lekki Gardens, Mr. Richard Nyong in custody pending the conclusion of on-going investigation into collapse of a five-storey building under construction on Kushenla Road, Ikate Elegushi area of the state which killed no fewer than 35 persons.

    The court also ordered one of the contractors handling the project, Odofin Taiwo Henry to be kept in police custody at Panti alongside Nyong for the next 30 days.

    Magistrate Folashade Botoku, who granted the remand order, held that same was in the interest of justice and public safety.

    34-year-old Nyong was apprehended on Thursday, while Odofin was arrested on Wednesday.

    The building had crumbled around 3am on Tuesday with several workers trapped in the rubble.

    The state government had sealed the building, which was originally designed to be a three-storey structure but in a brazen act of defiance and impunity, the owners of the building, Messrs Lekki Worldwide Estate Limited, the promoters of Lekki Gardens, were said to have criminally unsealed the property and continued building beyond the approved floors until the unfortunate incident.

    Nyong and Odofin were brought to court at about 1pm in a black Range Rover Sports Utility Vehicle with registration number (Abuja) KWL 682 CN.

    When the case was called, police prosecutor, Godwin Osuji informed Magistrate Botoku of an ex-parte application seeking to remand the defendants beyond the constitutionally prescribed period, saying the application was brought in the interest of justice, public safety, public order and morality.

    He said in view of the circumstances of the case, it was impossible for the police to conclude the investigation within two days, hence the need for the application.

    According to Osuji, as at Thursday, 24 bodies were recovered from the scene of the incident, while others were still being recovered.

    He added that some of the relatives of the victims were still making efforts to identify their dead bodies, while autopsy is yet to be conducted.

    He said: “In view of the circumstances of this matter, it will be impracticable for us to conclude investigation in two days as there are so many agencies involved and so we have come to court in order not to run foul of the law.”

    He, therefore, urged the court to grant the request to keep the defendants in custody of the Police Criminal Investigation Department pending conclusion of investigation.

    Responding, counsel to the defendants, Bode Olanipekun orally applied for the bail of his clients.

    Olanipekun, in the alternative, urged the court to order that the police should release his clients but that they should make themselves available to police when needed.

    However, Osuji, in response, said it was trite law that an application for bail could only be filed after the defendants must have been arraigned on a criminal charge.

    He said at the moment, the police was yet to file any charge against the defendants and as such the application for bail was not yet ripe.

    In her ruling, Magistrate Botoku ruled that under Section 264 (1) of the Lagos State Administration of Criminal Justice Act, 2011, she was empowered to order the remand of a defendant as in the instant case, but that the major consideration is the justification of such application.

    She held that having gone through the facts of the case, it was in the interest of justice for the application to be granted, as there was merit in it.

    Magistrate Botoku therefore ordered the defendants to be kept at the Criminal Investigation Department Panti for 30 days at first instance, subject to variation upon further applications.

    The matter was consequently adjourned to April 12.

  • Contractor: Baruwa Road for completion in June

    Pako Road in Baruwa, Ayobo-Ipaja Local Council Development Area of Lagos State may be ready by June 30 as against the August deadline given by the government.

    This was revealed by the builder in-charge, Joseph Odugbemi of Lopek Construction Company.

    Odugbemi said with the pace of work and good weather, the road may be completed two months earlier.

    He added that the company was working to beat the odds that could work against the project.

    Odugbemi praised the residents for their cooperation.

     

     

  • Contractor completes Enyimba Stadium’s sub base drainage

    • Waits on Abia govt’ for import base materials 

    The Enyimba International Stadium, Aba is getting closer to completion after the contractor handling the project, Ebi Ezekiel Egbe, who is the Managing Director of Monimichelle Sports Facility Construction Company, confirmed to SportingLife that the sub base drainage construction has been rounded off under 40 days.

    He said the 1,500m drainage was completed at record time and that he is only waiting on the import based materials to be shipped into the country.

    Egbe told SportingLife that installation of the pitch takes only seven days and that FIFA certified specialist 100 natural Geo Technology pitch installers are on standby to get the job completed as soon as the import based materials are brought into the country and that with the completion of the sub base drainage construction the work is over 80 per cent done.

    SportingLife checks ,however, revealed that with import based materials the only hindrance to the stadium’s completion, further let up may be the free fall of the foreign currencies’ exchange rates, especially Euros which the company is using to source the materials.

    When the work was awarded in December last year €1 (Euros)exchanged for N275  but currently it is exchanged for over N400 . Enyimba will host Vipers of Uganda in the second leg of the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League in Port Harcourt’s Adokiye Amiesimaka Stadium next week.

  • Infrastructural development and contractor impunity: A case study

    Infrastructural development and contractor impunity: A case study

    Consider with me the following three theses:

    First, infrastructural development is key to economic breakthrough even in an era of dwindling resources.

    Second, Nigerian governments have not been unmindful of the importance of infrastructural development as evidenced by the various budgets and development plans since the beginning of the republic, and especially in the last 16 years.

    Third, unfortunately, the terrible disease of impunity that has hitherto characterised government activities and projects, especially in the last dispensation, also afflicts contractors working for government on infrastructure, including especially federal roads. Thus even when the government has discharged its responsibilities and mobilised contractors with funds, nothing tangible gets done with contractors abscondingwith mobilisation funds, leaving projects uncompleted and in some cases unbegun.

    The first thesis is uncontroversial and doesn’t really need justification as has been attested to by experts and confirmed by the experience of other nations. The United States is a good example of a nation that invested in infrastructure right from the beginning of its birth and maintained its dominance by reinvesting in infrastructure. Even during its most trying period at the depth of its economic depression, the visionary leaders of the US attacked the enemy and dug the nation out of economic doldrums with massive public work investment.

    The link between infrastructural development and economic development is fairly straightforward. Though nations emerged from agricultural settlements, no nation can develop to its full potentials and take care of its population on the basis of subsistence agriculture alone. But for a successful revolution in agricultural development, a good network of roads is minimally essential for obvious reasons. So is a good system of irrigation. We cannot forget the need for power at least for the sustenance of irrigation and for the maintenance of a good storage system, which ensures food availability through the seasons. This is purely elementary. But we have not even got the elementary and rudimentary nature of the linkages right. Hence our predicament in the matter of sustainable development of agriculture even in the 21st century.

    If we choose not to be in a rush to advance and therefore we limit ourselves to agriculture and its infrastructural needs, it is clear that we are far behind in the reconciliation of where we are with where we ought to be. We have land masses that remain largely uncultivated mainly because farmers are condemned to middle-age methods of farming and even when they endure the drudgery, they are faced with the daunting task of evacuating their harvests to urban markets and many of the produce perish in the process.

    Second, our government is not unaware of the importance of infrastructure for economic advancement and national transformation. Our development plans in the 60s and 70s up until the mid-80s were meant to accelerate the pace of development with emphasis on infrastructure. Since 1999, there have been noticeable efforts in the same direction, culminating in the 2010 discussions between the African Development Bank Group (AfDB)and the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    As reported by the Bank in its prepared report, the government of Nigeria requested the bank to “prepare a report on the state of infrastructure in the country.” Among others, the Bank noted that “investments in infrastructure are critical to advances in agriculture, which is one of the key pillars of the Nigerian economy, and human development, including the delivery of health and education services to the poor.” The Bank then provided an assessment of the status of infrastructure in the transport, power, information and communication technologies, and water and sanitation sectors. It prepared an action plan for the country to achieve the goals set by 2020. That was six years ago. Needless to add, we have hardly started the implementation of the plan.

    One of the action plans with regard to the transport sector was that “about 145,000 km of the existing network (equal about 75 per cent of the total network) would be rehabilitated and selectively upgraded, including rehabilitation and upgrade of the tertiary network that serves rural communities. Some 7,993 km of existing federal primary and secondary roads will be dualised, with all of the primary roads completed and 1,685 km of the secondary roads in the federal network.” Due to space factor, I limit myself to just these two of the identified Action Plans.

    Shortly after, in July 2012, the government tasked the National Planning Commission with the responsibility to coordinate the preparation of a National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP) for the country to be implemented over a period of 30 years. That coordination had hardly taken off before the government was sent packing.

    Now to the third thesis. At a retreat organised by the presidency on the implementation of the plan, former President Jonathan himself zeroed in on one of the major reasons for the failure of all the efforts toward the development of infrastructure in Nigeria. He observed that greed and corruption were the twin evils that militate against the development of Nigeria. I make bold to suggest that contractor corruption and impunity and governmental connivance are at the center of the evils that befall Nigeria and have drawn it backwards since its birth as a nation, and especially since the beginning of the Fourth Republic.

    Every year there is budget earmarked for road development, including reconstruction, rehabilitation, pavement, etc. of federal and state roads. However, in the most successful scenario, we may have a third of these partially implemented and none fully implemented. Not that the contractors are not funded. Usually, they and the monitoring authorities have a deal, which ensures that should the contractors abscond with the funds, they are not pursued or forced to complete the project for which they received funds. This is why abandoned projects litter our streets and the masses are suffering in silence. This is why we hardly see contractors punished for failure to discharge their contractual obligations even after receiving funds.

    The Okeho-Iseyin Federal Road is a case study of an abandoned project six years after it was awarded in 2009 to a contractor (name withheld) for about N1 billion for the 30 km road. The stipulated completion time was SIX MONTHS! And we have the contractor to thank for having partially completed 8 km in SIX YEARS. Prior to this latest experience, there hadn’t been any good report on the performance of the Federal Government and the incompetent contractors that it decided to have handle the fixing of the road. For hardly had they completed the job than the road started disintegrating even before they packed they equipment.

    In the current case, the ministry and its zonal office did not deem it necessary to sack the contractor company and in the last six years, it has been a frustrating experience of a most incompetent and inefficient execution of the project. The contractor has often abandoned the site such that one would conclude that the government had sacked him. Then he would reappear with an assembly of some old and dilapidated equipment that would suggest that it couldn’t be a Federal Government project. And yet, this is a billion Naira federal road rehabilitation project! The question is: why is an incompetent contractor handling a federal road? And why is the government not caring enough to ensure that its resources are not squandered and the people do not suffer undue neglect?

    Last year, Governor Abiola Ajimobi moved to fix the road. But as word reached the contractor, he cunningly moved his equipment back to site. Shortly after, he disappeared. Three weeks ago, the contractor resurfaced again with piles of laterite on the road, another clever gimmick to hold on to the project and continue with its shoddy job or to avoid the scrutiny of the new Minister of Works known for his conscientiousness and spartan discipline. It is time to either terminate the contract and give it to a competent contractor or force its efficient and satisfactory completion. For apart from its internal developmental benefits, the road is a major portion of the Oyo-Iseyin-Okeho-Wasimi Road, which when fixed, will facilitate trade with our Benin Republic neighbours.

  • PDP campaign: Contractor sues party, Gana, Ali, others for unpaid N360m

    PDP campaign: Contractor sues party, Gana, Ali, others for unpaid N360m

    The last has not been heard of the presidential campaign of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.

    A firm engaged in the project has sued the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and some party chieftains for alleged N360 million debt.

    Sued with PDP are Senator Ahmadu Ali (director general of PDP’s Presidential Campaign Organisation), ex-Information Minister Prof. Jerry Gana (director, Contact and Mobilisation) and ex-Finance Minister Senator Nenadi Usman (who served as director of Finance).

    The suit, before a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Maitama, was filed by an Abuja-based firm, Twinkle Nigeria Limited, through its lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN).

    The firm claimed to have been engaged by the PDP Presidential Campaign Organisation to “beautify and decorate” the venue used by ex-President Jonathan in the 36 states during the campaign leading to the presidential election. It accused the defendants of refusing to pay N360 million.

    This is the second time the Jonathan campaign group would be sued for unpaid debt. A company, Silon Concepts Limited sued the PDP and Ahmadu Ali at the High Court of the FCT last year for their alleged refusal to pay an outstanding N70 for services rendered.

    A director of Twinkle Nigeria Limited, Agarawu Tunde, said in a supporting affidavit that his company, on January 7, 2015, submitted a proposal for the branding and beautification  of the PDP presidential campaign venues in the 36 states to the party’s presidential campaign organisation for N15 million per state.

    “The third defendant (Prof Gana) approved the plaintiff’s proposal for N10 million per state and directed the Assistant Director, Venue, to include same in the budget.  The plaintiff states that it was not paid for the services rendered to the defendants.

    “On January 30, 2015, it (Twinkle) wrote a demand letter, requesting payment of N360 million being cost of the branding and beautification services rendered at the defendants’ campaign venues nationwide.

    “The third defendant (Prof Gana) endorsed the letter, confirming that the plaintiff provided the services and directed the fourth defendant (Nenadi Usman) to pay the plaintiff. The plaintiff’s officials subsequently visited the defendants several times, pleading that they be paid, but the defendants refused.”

    The plaintiff is, therefore, seeking an order of the court, compelling the defendants to pay the N360 million and 10 per cent interest on the money until the judgment is executed.

    In their separate affidavits, Prof Gana and Usman denied the plaintiff’s claim and denied ever entering any contract with Twinkle Nigeria Limited. They also denied that the firm provided the services it claimed to have rendered.

    Hearing in the case has been scheduled for February 11.

  • Osun not paying N20b to contractor

    Osun not paying N20b to contractor

    •Payment of workers’ salaries to begin

    The Osun State government has called on residents to disregard the lies being peddled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to discredit Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

    A statement by the Director of the Bureau of Communication and Strategy in the Office of the Governor, Semiu Okanlawon, said the PDP and its allies were manipulating the people.

    It reads: “The latest of the PDP’s falsehood is the allegation that the Aregbesola administration has paid N20billion of the N34.988billion bailout fund to a construction company, Slava Yeditepe, handling the Oba Adesoji Aderemi Second By-Pass Road.

    “Nothing could be more ridiculous. The construction of the Adesoji Aderemi Road began in July 2013 at a cost of N14.5billion and this was publicly announced.

    “What then would be the reason for the payment of N20billion to the contractor in 2015?

    “Secondly, the PDP shot itself in the foot last week when it accused Aregbesola of fixing the bailout funds in a deposit account.

    “If its claim was true, how then was the governor able to pay N20billion to Slava Yeditepe? This stands logic in the head. This does not show good thinking on the part of the PDP and its allies.

    “There can be no other rationale behind these spurious allegations other than to incite workers against the government.

    “The PDP said the state  received the bailout funds two weeks ago. It was apparent that this was a calculated attempt to set workers against the government.

    “If not outright mischief, how could the PDP accuse Aregbesola of having collected the funds two weeks  when in actual facts, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), just three days before then, confirmed its release of the funds to the states?

    “This is why the public must be wary of the antics of this party and its co-travellers.

    “Whether the PDP and its allies in the evil plot realise it or not, Osun people are much more sophisticated and more discerning. Such lies are too cheap for them,” it added.

    The statement assured that the government will begin the payment of salary and pension arrears.

    It thanked the people of Osun for their resilience, perseverance, and for resisting the temptation to be used to destroy the peace and progress the state had always enjoyed under Aregbesola.

  • Contractor charged with N6.1 m fraud

    A 35-year-old aluminium sheet contractor, Babatunji Ogunjimi, was yesterday arraigned before an Ikeja Chief Magistrate’s Court in Lagos for allegedly swindling a marketing agency of N6.1 million.

    Prosecuting Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Eranus Nnamonu, said the accused deliberately supplied ‘05mm -sized aluminium sheets to his client for a project rather than the agreed ‘055mm’ type.

    Nnamonu said the defendant committed the offence on April 30 at Oracle Experience Company at Jolly Street, Allen Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.

    He said: “Ogunjimi, with intent to cheat his client, Oracle Experience Company, purchased 05mm-sized aluminum sheets from Tower Aluminum Company, rather than the agreed 055mm type, being fully aware that the `05mm-sized was not the standard specification that his client requested for.

    “He fraudulently made away with N6.1 million for purchasing lower quality aluminum roofing sheets.”

    Nnamonu said the offence violated Sections 363(1) and 364 of the Criminal Laws of Lagos State.

    The defendant pleaded not guilty.

    Magistrate Abimbola Komolafe granted Ogunjimi N500, 000 bail with two sureties in the like sum and adjourned the case to June 11.

     

  • Ondo lawmaker, contractor trade words over attack

    Ondo lawmaker, contractor trade words over attack

    Confusion reigned at the Ondo State House of Assembly complex, Igbatoro Road, Akure, the Ondo State capital, at the weekend when a contractor handling projects at the complex, Mr Obayoriju Abass, was assaulted by some youths suspected to be political thugs loyal to one of the lawmakers.

    The youths were said to have stormed an office in the complex during a meeting summoned by the Assembly Tenders Committee chaired by the lawmaker representing Owo Constituency 1, Ayo Arowele.

    Sources said the contractor’s offence was that he argued with members of the committee during the meeting.

    Arowele’s clothes were torn to shreds after he was pushed out of the meeting.

    It was gathered that Obayoriju’s attack may not be unconnected with his interest in contesting in 2015 the position Arowele is occupying.

    Obayoriju, who spoke with reporters, alleged that he was assaulted by Arowele at the meeting.

    He said|: “I went to a meeting summoned by the tender’s committee but I was surprised that despite the fact that I answered the questions the committee asked me correctly, I was asked to shut up by Arowele and in the process of trying to defend myself, he slapped me.

    “He later instructed his thugs to walk me out of the meeting. One of his thugs tore my clothes and slapped me repeatedly.

    “I think what Arowele and his boys did to me is something that should not be allowed to go without reporting to the appropriate quarters. Such attack is barbaric and uncalled for.”

    Obayoriju, who has reported the matter to the police, threatened to sue the lawmaker, saying: “I will not hesitate to drag Arowele to court because what he did to me is primitive.”

    He also called on the police to investigate the matter.

    Arowele denied the allegation, describing it as a cooked-up story designed to dent his image. He added that there was no truth in the allegation levelled against him.

    He said: “We asked him some questions pertaining to the jobs he had handled in the Assembly and instead of addressing the issue, he insulted committee members at the meeting. I never assaulted him in any form.”